The city was dark and silent, and there wasn't anybody around to see the lithe, black-clad body leaping from roof to roof. After Adrien's disastrous day, he'd have liked little more than to roam the city for a few hours with Ladybug (who seemed to need more and more cheering up, these days) but she wasn't answering his calls, despite the fact he'd sent her about twenty. He'd eventually resigned himself to roaming alone, and despite his solitude, the feeling of the wind in his eyes and hair and the beauty of the muted night were enough to cheer him up, just a little.

Chat came to a halt on top of the town hall, panting his lungs out. His muscles on fire, but mind at peace, he settled down with his legs dangling off the roof to watch the stars and think the day over.

His attempts to get Mari to talk to him hadn't gone well.

Surprisingly, she had come back to school after lunch, but he, Nino and Alya hadn't heard her make a single sound the entire time. Chloe had been sending her inscrutable looks (somewhere between venomous and satisfied) as the two of them had been scolded for their less-than-acceptable essays in literature, and again, Adrien had had to hold himself back from jumping up to defend his terrifyingly melancholy friend.

Now, with the strong wind mussing up his blond locks and making his emerald eyes water, he thought about how he felt towards Marinette properly. He'd never really allowed himself to contemplate his (romantic?) feelings towards her since Alya and Nino told him about Marinette's, but now he couldn't get the subject off his mind.

He knew that his heart belonged with fervour to Ladybug, but especially today, he'd noticed a tugging in his heartstrings whenever he saw or thought of Marinette's thin, white face. Adrien couldn't forget the feeling he'd got when he'd seen her having a breakdown outside Mr Damocles' office- a mixture of second-hand pain, anger, compassion and something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He'd wanted to hold her, to comfort her, to protect her from the pain she was feeling. While she'd walked away from him, he'd felt defeated, useless. Sitting in front of her that afternoon, he'd known that the whole charade between her and Chloe couldn't last for too much longer. Someone was going to crack- be it him, Alya, Nino or Marinette or Chloe themselves.

But how did he feel about her? Did he like her back? Chat considered the question. She was pretty, no doubt about it. Her eyes were as beautifully azure blue as Ladybug's, though they sparkled not with power but a different kind of kindness and a hint of shyness. Her hair- always tied in those endearing little bunches so like Ladybug's- was so black it was blue, and he'd occasionally found himself getting lost in the way the Parisian sunshine glinted off it as she shook her head and laughed with Alya. Her skin was clear and had a flawlessly porcelain look about it. Her features were delicate and dainty, her figure slim but curvy where it was meant to be.

As for her personality... in his book, it was basically faultless. She was kind, brave, selfless, strong; all the best bits about Ladybug, but with less of the distance, the unattainability. Loving, caring friendliness were what made Marinette Marinette. He admired her greatly, especially the way she'd never bowed down to Chloe's tyranny when it was someone else's happiness on the line.

Chat clenched his jaw.

Chloe.

He'd found himself liking the girl less and less over the last couple of years. She'd been the only person at school he'd known when he arrived and had consequently spent more time with her than anyone else. However, he'd found his dislike for the girl growing as he got to know her better. He'd thankfully swiftly found friends in Nino and Alya, and a mystery in Marinette and her jumpy behaviour around him. But now that skittish, playful girl was gone, a sad, silent wreck in her place. And it was all Chloe's fault.

Chat stood up, suddenly. He looked across the sleeping city, and felt a pulling in his gut. He knew where he had to go, even if he wasn't welcome. Would she want to see him? Did he care? The answer to the latter question was no, the former still undecided.

Extending his staff so he could vault over slumbering houses and through silent, dark alleyways, Chat ran. Ran towards the girl he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, how he felt about.

"Do you like her back?" Alya had asked eagerly, and at the time he hadn't known. But now?

Yes.

Entirely, irrevocably, undeniably.

Yes.

oOo

He slowed as he neared the school, knowing Marinette's house wasn't far from it. He didn't know what he was going to say to her- he wasn't going to tell her how he felt (he was Chat, not Adrien, after all, a superhero she barely knew) but he knew he was going to comfort her. She would undoubtedly be in need of it, after the day she'd had. He kept that in mind as he sprang onto her balcony, as a reminder to keep his own, selfish agenda to himself, at least for tonight.

Landing deftly and quietly on her roof, he saw the trap door that led into her room, and he snuck over to it. Before picking the lock with a pointed claw, he looked in to see if she was even there.

She was. She sat at her desk with her head on her arms, sleeping deeply. Her breath stirred the strands of hair that fell over her face as she inhaled then exhaled. Chat couldn't help but notice how lacklustre it was, devoid of the usual shine and bounce that had always drawn his attention to it. The shadows under her eyes were shockingly dark, making her face seem even paler. The hollows of her cheekbones were alarmingly prominent and deep, and if he hadn't seen her breathing, he honestly might have mistaken her for dead.

That thought was the one that was the catalyst for him creaking open her trapdoor and dropping silently onto her bed. He could see her better from her, and he could also hear her quiet sighs as she caught up on what was some clearly-needed sleep. Chat sat there for a while, reassuring himself that she was alive, she was here, and had almost convinced himself to leave her in peace when she screamed his name.

oOo

The turmoil of the black sky above made Marinette shiver as she was tossed around, leaf-like, by the brutal wind. Red lightning cracked across her vision- not comforting cherry like her Ladybug suit, but dark, malicious scarlet that sent fear into her trembling core.

She struggled to keep her feet on the ground as she spun, trying to see, to make sense of her surroundings. The once-familiar buildings of Paris loomed over her, thin, twisting and intimidating. The lightning struck again, this time hitting the building next to her. Slabs of brick and concrete exploded from the spot where it hit, tossing into the air. Marinette threw her arms around her and screamed as they tumbled down around her, knowing that she couldn't protect herself. The first one to hit her knocked her down, but she was devoid of pain as she filled with fear- suddenly seeing Alya, Nino and Adrien standing over her, staring at the sky. They didn't flinch as the rocks rained perilously down around them, but Marinette scrambled up to push them out of the way, cover them, do anything to protect them-

Just as she reached her arms out to grab Alya and drag her to safety, the trio disappeared, only to reappear a few feet away, facing her blankly. The rock fall stopped, and the wind picked up, higher and stronger than before. Lightning struck- first Alya, then Nino then Adrien, and Marinette watched helplessly as they fell to the ground in quick succession. She screamed again, held back from her friends by an invisible wall in the air. She pounded her fists on it and screamed their names. Mari looked around desperately for anything or anyone that could assist her. She spied a shadowed figure on a faraway rooftop, watching the carnage and death unfold as she felt, rather than saw, her friend's heartbeats stop.

"Help me!" Marinette screamed. "P-Please, help them!"

The figure jumped impossibly far, landing directly in front of her, and Marinette gasped as the shadows surrounding them lifted to reveal Chat Noir.

He said something so quietly she shouldn't have been able to hear it over the wind and lightning strikes, but somehow she could.

"You should have helped them."

Marinette stared, aghast.

"I tried! I couldn't- something wouldn't let me- but then…"

An ugly look crossed his face, and Marinette realised she was now wearing her Ladybug suit, but without her mask. Chat stared at her in disgust, recoiling when she tried to reach out to him.

"You're pathetic. A hero? I don't think so." He sneered, and Marinette fell back, gasping as a dagger seemed to force itself into her gut.

"Me neither." Snorted Alya, suddenly standing next to him, Adrien and Nino either side of her. "I looked up to Ladybug, but now I know she's you? I realise she'd nothing worth idolising."

Nino nodded, and the lightning flashes cast dark shadows over her friends' faces.

Marinette backed away, but they followed.

"No, I… I've helped people, I've saved people. I'm- Ladybug- I'm a good person!" She gasped desperately, knives in her every nerve twisting until she collapsed. She fell on her back and her four friends crowded over her.

Nino scoffed at her. "You're pathetic, weak. As if anyone could ever look up to or love someone as useless as you."

Chat nodded an agreement and another knife of agony forced its way into Marinette's stomach. "When have you ever done anything without me? You can't do anything without me there to catch you, to clean up your messes."

"Everyone knows how ridiculous little Marinette pined over me. They laughed, and I did, too. How could someone like you ever compare to me?" Adrien taunted, his once-handsome features harsh and angular.

Lightning flashed again, and threw her friend's faces into sharp relief. They looked less like her friends, and more like vultures preying on her weaknesses, and Marinette screamed again.

The scene around her dissolved until she was cowering on the ground of an endless blackness. She looked around, trying to make her eyes adjust and light flared behind her.

Chat Noir stood there, illuminated by a light that seemed to be emanating from somewhere far above. Marinette froze as her partner stared at her, crouching on the ground in fear like a little girl.

The corners of his mouth curved down into a grimace.

"I thought Ladybug was better than this." He sighed, and Marinette scrambled up. She tried to go to him, but her feet were frozen in place. "I thought she was great and good, but… she's just you. I loved her… I loved you!" He shouted suddenly, and the girl flinched at the venom in his voice.

"You were cruel, playing with my affections as you pined pathetically after that pretty-boy. You couldn't find the strength to tell me you hated me, you were too self-involved, caught up in your own stupid, imaginary romance. Don't you know yet he could never love you? You're nothing." He spat.

"No… no…" whimpered Marinette, tears pouring down her face. "I don't hate you, Ch-Chat, I could never hate you. I- I l-love you, you're my best friend, I n-need you!"

Suddenly Chat was right in front of her, his face pained and tears swimming in his sparkling eyes.

"But you don't love me the way I love you…" he whispered, heart-breakingly miserably. "And you love him."

Marinette stared at him, dreading what was to come.

"I'm only a nuisance, a bother to you. So… I'll let myself out of your life." Before she knew what was happening, there was a silver blade in his hand. Marinette screamed as he stepped backwards so she had the perfect view as he plunged it hilt-deep into his own stomach.

"Chat! Chat- noooo!" Marinette's voice cracked as her voice hurt her own eardrums in its pitch and loudness. Dark blood spurted from behind Chat's gloved fingers, and she couldn't move as his knees hit the ground, eyes glazing over. She tried to go to him, she tried to help him, but she couldn't move. He stared at the knife in him, then looked back at her with betrayal in his eyes.

"You didn't save me…" he whispered. "You're not a hero. You… you aren't anything. Ladybug is nothing if… if she's you." Chat's last breaths escaped him and he slumped forwards onto the dark stain that had spread across his front. There was nothing Marinette could do but scream his name as he stopped moving.

"No! No- Chat! I'm sorry, I tried to save you… Chaaat! Please, no… Chat… I'm sorry."

The light was snuffed out as tears cascaded down Marinette's face in complete darkness.

She kept yelling, hoping he'd hear her and come back to her.

"Chat! Chaaaat! Noooo!"

"Marinette!" A voice permeated the darkness, and suddenly the world around her was shaking, falling apart. "Marinette, wake up! Please, wake up!"

Chat shook the unconscious girl frantically until her eyes opened and she jolted at the sight of the dark shadow looming over her, not recognizing him in her terror. Her yells of his name continued as she tried to push him off her, struggled to free herself from both the intruder and the dark, lingering horror of her nightmare.

"Marinette, it's me! It's Chat! It's okay, you're alright, it- it was just a dream!"

The horrible, gut-wrenching screams stopped coming out of her mouth, but she still pushed herself away from him. Her entire body shook and she scrambled to get away, still not recognizing him out of fear.

"It was a all a dream, Marinette. Please..." Chat reached out to touch her, but she flailed and he let her go, not wanting to scare her again. He stood over her but stayed still until she stopped looking around wildly and her eyes focused on the one whose name she'd been screaming like her life depended on it.

She froze, breaths coming out of her rose-petal mouth in quiet, shallow huffs. The silence stretched on as she gazed up at him, took him in, drank in the fact that he was here before her.

"Chat?" The word was so quiet he couldn't have heard it had it not been for his transformation.

"It's okay, it was all a dream." He murmered, crouching down so he was at eye level with her where she sat. "It's over, I promise. It was all a dream..."

He reached out achingly slowly but necessarily gently to touch her, to reassure her that he was, indeed, here. He never got that far.

"Chat!" Marinette cried, and suddenly she was in his arms, holding him in an effort to tie herself to reality. He hugged her back, leaning over where she sat in her desk chair and heard the sobs wrenching themselves out of her throat. They remained in the embrace for a moment. Then, he wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, twisting one arm under her legs so she was bridal-style across him. Her arms shifted until they were around the back of his neck, and she buried her face in his strong, warm, comforting chest as he took her up to her bed. He'd heard her yesterday, mentioning that her parents were in Toulouse for the week, so he wasn't afraid so sit on her bed with her cradled into his body.

She held onto any part of him she could reach, still not entirely believing he was there. He shushed her soothingly as her tears soaked into his leather suit. He waited for her to shake off the last remnants of her nightmare, glad that she was finally in his arms and accepting the comfort he'd been wanting to give her for so long. Neither of them quite knew how long it took for her agonized cries to subside, but when they did, Chat stroked her hair as she pulled away from his shoulder to look into his eyes.

She gave a slight hiccough as their gaze intensified, but she didn't look away.

"Chat…" She whispered, stroking his hair away from his face with a tentative finger.

"I'm here. I'm here, Marinette, and I'm not going anywhere, I promise." He took her cold, tiny hand in his warm, larger ones and looked reassuringly at the girl.

She nodded, and leaned forwards into him, closing her eyes with a slight sigh. "Thank god. I thought... I..." She breathed, not knowing what to say. But soon she relaxed again, feeling him stroke her hair with his free hand.

"Princess…" he murmured, nuzzling her hair with his face, and he was forcibly reminded of the time he'd done the same thing for another vulnerable girl with black hair and eyes like the sky. He'd been making a lot of comparisons between Mari and Ladybug recently, but shook the latter out of his mind as he heard Mari give a sniff, reminding him which one he was with at present.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I know I must be scaring you… I'm sorry…" Mari whispered, winding her hand into his tousled blond hair. In response he wrapped his arms even more securely around her, like he'd wanted to for so many weeks.

"It's fine. Please, don't be sorry, Marinette. I'm here, as long as you need me. You don't have to tell me anything, I promise. But as long as you want me to be, I'm staying right here."

He felt her nod into his chest, both sighing thankful sighs as they finally either got or gave the comfort they'd been needing to get or give. She didn't question why he was here in her room, too glad he was to be confused. He was relieved as well, both feeling more comfortable in the others' embrace than they'd ever imagined.

"Thank you, Chat. I- I'm glad you're here." Marinette breathed into his chest as her heart rate sank back to normal. She felt him smile against her hair.

"Me too. Don't worry, I won't ask you to tell me what's going on, but both now and for the last few weeks I knew you needed comfort. I'm glad to finally be able to give it to you." Marinette stiffened slightly but didn't pull away. Chat realised his mistake and knew she was wondering how he'd known she'd been miserable for so long. She didn't say anything though, so he managed to cover himself with a white lie. "We've passed each other in the streets before, did you know that? It always made me grin, knowing you had no idea who I was. I guess we live near each other, I've seen you enough to be able to recognize when you've had a bad day." And today, I was part of your bad day, he added mentally. He sensed her relax again, and felt it was safe to lower her fully backwards onto her bed.

He curled up next to her, and they let each others' warmth heat up their chilly bodies. They lay for a while, taking comfort in the others' proximity and Chat finally felt her un-tense fully and he felt more at peace than he had in weeks. They both did.

He sat up carefully, then flashed her a gentle but still cheeky Cheshire grin.

"Well, princess, I think it must be time to say adieu. And might I recommend that you take tomorrow off? I think you need a sick day, but I don't want to keep you up all night. But I will see you soon, cat's honour." He turned to go, but stopped when he felt a tug on his tail. She was sitting up with the end of it clasped in one hand, but she didn't look at him.

"Princess?" He questioned, confused by her silence.

"Could..." She took a deep breath. "Could you stay with me? J-Just for a little while, not all n-night or anything... Though, as long as you haven't used your ataclysm power, your transformation should last all night, but I just... I want to be not alone, and to know y-you're here and ok-kay. " She seemed almost surprised when he dropped down next to her, the mattress bouncing slightly.

"Of course." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and they snuggled back down under the blankets. "I told you- as long as you need me, I'm right here.